The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Curcuma plant, botanically known as Curcuma alismatifolia, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Thai Beauty.
The new cultivar is a product of a planned and controlled breeding program conducted by the Inventors in Thailand. The objective of the breeding program is to create compact Curcuma cultivars with unique and attractive flower bract color and shape. The new cultivar originated from a deliberate cross by the Inventors between two unidentified selections of Curcuma alismatifolia. The cultivar Thai Beauty was discovered and selected by the Inventors as a plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Thailand in September, 1997.
Asexual propagation of the new cultivar by tissue culture of meristems and by rhizome divisions in Tirat Yehuda, Israel, has shown that the unique features of this new Curcuma plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual propagation.
The new Curcuma has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, light intensity, fertilizer rate, irrigation amount and frequency, and/or propagation procedures without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Thai Beautyxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Thai Beautyxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Plants of the new Curcuma are compact with inflorescences positioned above the foliage.
2. Plants of the new Curcuma are outwardly arching forming a broad inverted triangle.
3. Plants of the new Curcuma are freely branching.
4. Plants of the new Curcuma are early and freely flowering.
5. Plants of the new Curcuma have purple-colored flower bracts.
6. Plants of the new Curcuma produce three to five rhizomes per plant.
Plants of the new Curcuma differ from plants of the parent selections in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Curcuma are much more compact than plants of the parent selections.
2. Leaves of plants of the new Curcuma are outwardly arching whereas leaves of plants of the parent selections are upright and erect. Plants of the new Curcuma are outwardly arching and broad whereas plants of the parent selections are upright and erect.
3. Plants of the new Curcuma have much smaller leaves than plants of the parent selections.
4. Plants of the new Curcuma are more freely branching and more freely flowering than plants of the parent selections.
5. Plants of the new Curcuma have a more rapid growth rate and flower about two weeks earlier than plants of the parent selections.
6. Plants of the new Curcuma have purple-colored flower bracts whereas plants of the parent selections have light pink-colored flower bracts.
Plants of the new Curcuma differ from plants of the cultivar Thai Supreme, disclosed in U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 09/569,356, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Curcuma are shorter than plants of the cultivar Thai Supreme.
2. Plants of the new Curcuma are not as freely flowering as plants of the cultivar Thai Supreme.
3. Plants of the new Curcuma and the cultivar Thai Supreme differ in flower bract coloration.
4. Inflorescences of plants of the new Curcuma are positioned above the foliage whereas inflorescences of plants of the cultivar Thai Supreme are positioned at or just above the foliage.